Until Fry took an interest in Silver’s adhesive, it was considered a failure rather than an invention. As far as anyone in 3M’s marketing department knew, there was no great consumer demand for lousy tape. But for Fry’s purposes, this new kind of adhesive was perfect. It would allow him to create a bookmark that would stay fixed to a page, but also be easily removable.

Fry made prototypes, then shared them with his officemates. The response he got was favorable, but a few weeks later, when he asked if anyone wanted more, no one had used up their initial allotment. Perhaps if Fry had worked in a library, demand for his invention would have been greater. In an office setting, there were apparently only so many books that needed marking.

Eventually, however, Fry experienced another moment of inspiration when preparing a report for his boss: to call attention to an important reference, Fry drew an arrow on one of the bookmarks and affixed it to the report. When his boss returned the report with his own comment written on the bookmark, Fry realized his invention might appeal to more than just fastidious hymnal users.

Turning this simple idea into an actual product required all the resources that a huge corporation like 3M had at its disposal. To measure the tiny amount of adhesive for each note and then to position the notes into precise pads required the development of sophisticated new manufacturing processes. And convincing people to pay a premium for what was essentially enhanced scratch paper was a whole other challenge. Indeed, this one was perhaps the hardest to overcome. But when the product’s initial roll-out failed to attract much consumer interest, Fry persuaded 3M’s skeptical marketing department to distribute free samples to potential customers. If people were shown how the notes could be used, he believed, they would buy them.

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